Tour of Flanders Women 2026 | Kopecky, Vollering, Ferrand-Prévot, Reusser and so many more!

Anyone who looks down the women’s Tour of Flanders roll of honour sees one champion after another. Anna van der Breggen won the race back in 2018, while the now-retired Annemiek van Vleuten and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak have also lifted their arms in Oudenaarde. The same goes for Marianne Vos, although her victory already came twelve years ago.

In 2022, 2023 and 2025, Belgian favourite Kopecky won the Tour of Flanders. A fourth victory would make her the sole record holder across both the men’s and women’s editions of the race.

2025 Lotte Kopecky
2024 Elisa Longo Borghini
2023 Lotte Kopecky
2022 Lotte Kopecky
2021 Annemiek van Vleuten
2020 Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
2019 Marta Bastianelli
2018 Anna van der Breggen
2017 Coryn Labecki
2016 Lizzie Deignan

The women start in Oudenaarde, which is also where they will finish some 160 kilometres later. In between comes the usual barrage of cobbled sectors and Flemish climbs that make this race one of the toughest on the calendar.

After seventy mostly flat kilometres, the riders reach the hill zone, which begins with the Wolvenberg. Just over fifteen kilometres later come the Molenberg, Marlboroughstraat, Berendries and Valkenberg, before there is a brief moment to breathe ahead of the fearsome Koppenberg, which arrives with 45 kilometres to go.

Is there really any breathing space after the Koppenberg? Hardly. Steenbeekdries and Taaienberg follow within ten kilometres, before the riders head via the Kruisberg to the final two climbs of the race.

The famous Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg force the riders to their absolute limit one last time, after which there are still thirteen kilometres left to race to the finish in Oudenaarde. That means the women will tackle the same finale as the men.

Weather
There is some chance of rain, but with temperatures around 12 degrees Celsius that should not be too much of a problem. The wind is expected to blow quite strongly from the north-east, which means it should provide a notable tailwind in the finale.

Times
Start: 1:25 PM local time
Finish: 5:50 PM local time

The men’s field in Flanders has been the major talking point for weeks, but the women’s race in Oudenaarde is also packed with stars. It begins with Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx-Protime, the three-time winner of the Monument on home roads. She is backed up by Lorena Wiebes, Mischa Bredewold, Femke Gerritse, Blanka Vas and Elena Cecchini.

For the first time since 2021, when Kopecky was still racing for Liv, she will come up against Demi Vollering as a rival rather than a team-mate. The Dutchwoman returns to De Ronde for FDJ-SUEZ after a year away, although Vollering herself has stressed that Elise Chabbey, winner of Strade Bianche, and Franziska Koch also deserve close attention.

One rider Vollering will certainly be watching more closely after Wednesday is Marlen Reusser. The Swiss rider from Movistar returned to competition in Dwars door Vlaanderen after her crash in the UAE Tour and immediately pushed Vollering to the limit in that race, both on the road and at the finish. Reusser, who also has last year’s third-place finisher Liane Lippert and Cat Ferguson at her side, is therefore also one of the big names for Sunday.

While Lippert finished third last year, second place went to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The Tour of Flanders is one of the very few races the Frenchwoman has still not won, and with Ferrand-Prévot that usually means unfinished business.

She prepared in Andorra together with partner Dylan van Baarle, and on Sunday she can in any case count on Lieke Nooijen, who finished third on Wednesday. Marianne Vos skipped Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday because of family circumstances.

From a Dutch point of view, it is also worth keeping a close eye on the in-form Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck, Karlijn Swinkels of UAE Team ADQ, where former winner Elisa Longo Borghini has had a slightly more difficult run, Thalita de Jong of Human Powered Health, and Lidl-Trek duo Lucinda Brand and Shirin van Anrooij.

Other outsiders include Noemi Rüegg, Cedrine Kerbaol of EF-Oatly, Shari Bossuyt, Letizia Borghesi, Kimberly Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal-Quick-Step, Eleonora Gasparrini of UAE Team ADQ, and Pfeiffer Georgi of Picnic PostNL. Fleur Moors of Lidl-Trek is not on the start list, at least for now.

Top favorites: Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and Marlen Reusser (Movistar)

The Tour of Flanders will be broadcast on Sunday by Sporza, NOS and Eurosport. After the men’s finish, viewers can switch to the women’s race on all of those channels, both via traditional television and digital platforms, while HBO Max will already carry live coverage of the women’s event from 15:00 onward.